1. Septuagint, 1 Esdras, 6.12, 6.30, 8.19, 8.21 (th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 6.12. And in order that we might inform you in writing who the leaders are, we questioned them and asked them for a list of the names of those who are at their head. 6.30. and likewise wheat and salt and wine and oil, regularly every year, without quibbling, for daily use as the priests in Jerusalem may indicate 8.19. And I, Artaxerxes the king, have commanded the treasurers of Syria and Phoenicia that whatever Ezra the priest and reader of the law of the Most High God sends for, they shall take care to give him 8.21. Let all things prescribed in the law of God be scrupulously fulfilled for the Most High God, so that wrath may not come upon the kingdom of the king and his sons. |
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2. Septuagint, Tobit, 3.11, 8.15-8.17 (th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 3.11. So she prayed by her window and said, "Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name for ever. May all thy works praise thee for ever. 8.15. Then Raguel blessed God and said, "Blessed art thou, O God, with every pure and holy blessing.Let thy saints and all thy creatures bless thee;let all thy angels and thy chosen people bless thee for ever. 8.16. Blessed art thou, because thou hast made me glad. It has not happened to me as I expected;but thou hast treated us according to thy great mercy. 8.17. Blessed art thou, because thou hast had compassion on two only children. Show them mercy, O Lord;and bring their lives to fulfilment in health and happiness and mercy. |
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3. Hebrew Bible, Exodus, 20.11 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 20.11. כִּי שֵׁשֶׁת־יָמִים עָשָׂה יְהוָה אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם וְאֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־בָּם וַיָּנַח בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי עַל־כֵּן בֵּרַךְ יְהוָה אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת וַיְקַדְּשֵׁהוּ׃ | 20.11. for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 14.18-14.20, 14.22, 18.20 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 14.18. וּמַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן וְהוּא כֹהֵן לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן׃ 14.19. וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ וַיֹּאמַר בָּרוּךְ אַבְרָם לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃ 14.22. וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל־מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם הֲרִימֹתִי יָדִי אֶל־יְהוָה אֵל עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃ | 14.18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was priest of God the Most High." 14.19. And he blessed him, and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth;" 14.20. and blessed be God the Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.’ And he gave him a tenth of all." 14.22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom: ‘I have lifted up my hand unto the LORD, God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth," 18.20. And the LORD said: ‘Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous." |
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5. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 7.8, 17.14, 115.15 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 7.8. וַעֲדַת לְאֻמִּים תְּסוֹבְבֶךָּ וְעָלֶיהָ לַמָּרוֹם שׁוּבָה׃ 17.14. מִמְתִים יָדְךָ יְהוָה מִמְתִים מֵחֶלֶד חֶלְקָם בַּחַיִּים וצפינך [וּצְפוּנְךָ] תְּמַלֵּא בִטְנָם יִשְׂבְּעוּ בָנִים וְהִנִּיחוּ יִתְרָם לְעוֹלְלֵיהֶם׃ 115.15. בְּרוּכִים אַתֶּם לַיהוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ׃ | 7.8. And let the congregation of the peoples compass Thee about, And over them return Thou on high." 17.14. From men, by Thy hand, O LORD, From men of the world, whose portion is in this life, And whose belly Thou fillest with Thy treasure; Who have children in plenty, And leave their abundance to their babes." 115.15. Blessed be ye of the LORD Who made heaven and earth." |
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6. Hebrew Bible, Ruth, 3.10 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 3.10. And he said: ‘Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter; thou hast shown more kindness in the end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou didst not follow the young men, whether poor or rich." |
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7. Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel, 25.32-25.33 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 25.32. וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד לַאֲבִיגַל בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר שְׁלָחֵךְ הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה לִקְרָאתִי׃ 25.33. וּבָרוּךְ טַעְמֵךְ וּבְרוּכָה אָתְּ אֲשֶׁר כְּלִתִנִי הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה מִבּוֹא בְדָמִים וְהֹשֵׁעַ יָדִי לִי׃ | 25.32. And David said to Avigayil, Blessed be the Lord God of Yisra᾽el, who sent thee this day to meet me:" 25.33. and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou who hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand." |
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8. Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings, 19.15 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 19.15. וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל חִזְקִיָּהוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה וַיֹּאמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים אַתָּה־הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים לְבַדְּךָ לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ אַתָּה עָשִׂיתָ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃ | 19.15. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said: ‘O LORD, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth." |
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9. Hebrew Bible, Isaiah, 37.16 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 37.16. יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים אַתָּה־הוּא הָאֱלֹהִים לְבַדְּךָ לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ אַתָּה עָשִׂיתָ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃ | 37.16. ’O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth." |
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10. Hebrew Bible, 1 Chronicles, 29.10 (5th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 29.10. Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation; and David said: ‘Blessed be Thou, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever." |
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11. Hebrew Bible, Nehemiah, 9.6 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 9.6. אַתָּה־הוּא יְהוָה לְבַדֶּךָ את [אַתָּה] עָשִׂיתָ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַיִם שְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם וְכָל־צְבָאָם הָאָרֶץ וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר עָלֶיהָ הַיַּמִּים וְכָל־אֲשֶׁר בָּהֶם וְאַתָּה מְחַיֶּה אֶת־כֻּלָּם וּצְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם לְךָ מִשְׁתַּחֲוִים׃ | 9.6. Thou art the LORD, even Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee." |
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12. Septuagint, Tobit, 3.11, 8.15-8.17 (4th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 3.11. So she prayed by her window and said, "Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name for ever. May all thy works praise thee for ever. 8.15. Then Raguel blessed God and said, "Blessed art thou, O God, with every pure and holy blessing.Let thy saints and all thy creatures bless thee;let all thy angels and thy chosen people bless thee for ever. 8.16. Blessed art thou, because thou hast made me glad. It has not happened to me as I expected;but thou hast treated us according to thy great mercy. 8.17. Blessed art thou, because thou hast had compassion on two only children. Show them mercy, O Lord;and bring their lives to fulfilment in health and happiness and mercy. |
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13. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 3.26, 4.37 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 3.26. בֵּאדַיִן קְרֵב נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר לִתְרַע אַתּוּן נוּרָא יָקִדְתָּא עָנֵה וְאָמַר שַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד־נְגוֹ עַבְדוֹהִי דִּי־אֱלָהָא עליא [עִלָּאָה] פֻּקוּ וֶאֱתוֹ בֵּאדַיִן נָפְקִין שַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד נְגוֹ מִן־גּוֹא נוּרָא׃ | 3.26. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace; he spoke and said: ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants of God Most High, come forth, and come hither.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, came forth out of the midst of the fire." |
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14. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 4.30 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 4.30. When he saw that the army was strong, he prayed, saying, "Blessed art thou, O Savior of Israel, who didst crush the attack of the mighty warrior by the hand of thy servant David, and didst give the camp of the Philistines into the hands of Jonathan, the son of Saul, and of the man who carried his armor. |
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15. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 1.24, 3.31, 7.23, 13.14 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.24. The prayer was to this effect:'O Lord, Lord God, Creator of all things, who art awe-inspiring and strong and just and merciful, who alone art King and art kind,' 3.31. Quickly some of Heliodorus' friends asked Onias to call upon the Most High and to grant life to one who was lying quite at his last breath. 7.23. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.' 13.14. So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his men to fight nobly to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Modein.' |
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16. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 7.9, 24.8, 24.23, 46.5, 47.5, 47.8, 47.20, 50.17 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 7.9. Do not say, "He will consider the multitude of my gifts,and when I make an offering to the Most High God he will accept it. 24.8. Then the Creator of all things gave me a commandment,and the one who created me assigned a place for my tent. And he said, `Make your dwelling in Jacob,and in Israel receive your inheritance. 24.23. All this is the book of the covet of the Most High God,the law which Moses commanded us as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob. 46.5. He called upon the Most High, the Mighty One,when enemies pressed him on every side 47.5. For he appealed to the Lord, the Most High,and he gave him strength in his right hand to slay a man mighty in war,to exalt the power of his people. 47.8. In all that he did he gave thanks to the Holy One, the Most High, with ascriptions of glory;he sang praise with all his heart,and he loved his Maker. 50.17. Then all the people together made haste and fell to the ground upon their faces to worship their Lord,the Almighty, God Most High. |
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17. Septuagint, 3 Maccabees, 1.2-1.3, 2.2, 2.13, 2.22, 2.28-2.29, 3.12-3.29, 4.6, 5.1-5.3, 5.5, 5.15-5.22, 5.35, 6.2, 6.28, 7.2-7.8, 7.10-7.15 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.2. But a certain Theodotus, determined to carry out the plot he had devised, took with him the best of the Ptolemaic arms that had been previously issued to him, and crossed over by night to the tent of Ptolemy, intending single-handed to kill him and thereby end the war. 1.2. Mothers and nurses abandoned even newborn children here and there, some in houses and some in the streets, and without a backward look they crowded together at the most high temple. 1.3. But Dositheus, known as the son of Drimylus, a Jew by birth who later changed his religion and apostatized from the ancestral traditions, had led the king away and arranged that a certain insignificant man should sleep in the tent; and so it turned out that this man incurred the vengeance meant for the king. 2.2. Lord, Lord, king of the heavens, and sovereign of all creation, holy among the holy ones, the only ruler, almighty, give attention to us who are suffering grievously from an impious and profane man, puffed up in his audacity and power. 2.2. Speedily let your mercies overtake us, and put praises in the mouth of those who are downcast and broken in spirit, and give us peace. 2.13. see now, O holy King, that because of our many and great sins we are crushed with suffering, subjected to our enemies, and overtaken by helplessness. 2.22. He shook him on this side and that as a reed is shaken by the wind, so that he lay helpless on the ground and, besides being paralyzed in his limbs, was unable even to speak, since he was smitten by a righteous judgment. 2.28. None of those who do not sacrifice shall enter their sanctuaries, and all Jews shall be subjected to a registration involving poll tax and to the status of slaves. Those who object to this are to be taken by force and put to death; 2.29. those who are registered are also to be branded on their bodies by fire with the ivy-leaf symbol of Dionysus, and they shall also be reduced to their former limited status. 3.12. King Ptolemy Philopator to his generals and soldiers in Egypt and all its districts, greetings and good health. 3.13. I myself and our government are faring well. 3.14. When our expedition took place in Asia, as you yourselves know, it was brought to conclusion, according to plan, by the gods' deliberate alliance with us in battle 3.15. and we considered that we should not rule the nations inhabiting Coele-Syria and Phoenicia by the power of the spear but should cherish them with clemency and great benevolence, gladly treating them well. 3.16. And when we had granted very great revenues to the temples in the cities, we came on to Jerusalem also, and went up to honor the temple of those wicked people, who never cease from their folly. 3.17. They accepted our presence by word, but insincerely by deed, because when we proposed to enter their inner temple and honor it with magnificent and most beautiful offerings 3.18. they were carried away by their traditional conceit, and excluded us from entering; but they were spared the exercise of our power because of the benevolence which we have toward all. 3.19. By maintaining their manifest ill-will toward us, they become the only people among all nations who hold their heads high in defiance of kings and their own benefactors, and are unwilling to regard any action as sincere. 3.21. Among other things, we made known to all our amnesty toward their compatriots here, both because of their alliance with us and the myriad affairs liberally entrusted to them from the beginning; and we ventured to make a change, by deciding both to deem them worthy of Alexandrian citizenship and to make them participants in our regular religious rites. 3.22. But in their innate malice they took this in a contrary spirit, and disdained what is good. Since they incline constantly to evil 3.23. they not only spurn the priceless citizenship, but also both by speech and by silence they abominate those few among them who are sincerely disposed toward us; in every situation, in accordance with their infamous way of life, they secretly suspect that we may soon alter our policy. 3.24. Therefore, fully convinced by these indications that they are ill-disposed toward us in every way, we have taken precautions lest, if a sudden disorder should later arise against us, we should have these impious people behind our backs as traitors and barbarous enemies. 3.25. Therefore we have given orders that, as soon as this letter shall arrive, you are to send to us those who live among you, together with their wives and children, with insulting and harsh treatment, and bound securely with iron fetters, to suffer the sure and shameful death that befits enemies. 3.26. For when these all have been punished, we are sure that for the remaining time the government will be established for ourselves in good order and in the best state. 3.27. But whoever shelters any of the Jews, old people or children or even infants, will be tortured to death with the most hateful torments, together with his family. 3.28. Any one willing to give information will receive the property of the one who incurs the punishment, and also two thousand drachmas from the royal treasury, and will be awarded his freedom. 3.29. Every place detected sheltering a Jew is to be made unapproachable and burned with fire, and shall become useless for all time to any mortal creature. 4.6. And young women who had just entered the bridal chamber to share married life exchanged joy for wailing, their myrrh-perfumed hair sprinkled with ashes, and were carried away unveiled, all together raising a lament instead of a wedding song, as they were torn by the harsh treatment of the heathen. 5.1. Then the king, completely inflexible, was filled with overpowering anger and wrath; so he summoned Hermon, keeper of the elephants 5.1. Hermon, however, when he had drugged the pitiless elephants until they had been filled with a great abundance of wine and satiated with frankincense, presented himself at the courtyard early in the morning to report to the king about these preparations. 5.2. and ordered him on the following day to drug all the elephants -- five hundred in number -- with large handfuls of frankincense and plenty of unmixed wine, and to drive them in, maddened by the lavish abundance of liquor, so that the Jews might meet their doom. 5.2. the king, possessed by a savagery worse than that of Phalaris, said that the Jews were benefited by today's sleep, "but," he added, "tomorrow without delay prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the lawless Jews! 5.3. When he had given these orders he returned to his feasting, together with those of his friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews. 5.3. But at these words he was filled with an overpowering wrath, because by the providence of God his whole mind had been deranged in regard to these matters; and with a threatening look he said 5.5. The servants in charge of the Jews went out in the evening and bound the hands of the wretched people and arranged for their continued custody through the night, convinced that the whole nation would experience its final destruction. 5.5. Not only this, but when they considered the help which they had received before from heaven they prostrated themselves with one accord on the ground, removing the babies from their breasts 5.15. And when he had with difficulty roused him, he pointed out that the hour of the banquet was already slipping by, and he gave him an account of the situation. 5.16. The king, after considering this, returned to his drinking, and ordered those present for the banquet to recline opposite him. 5.17. When this was done he urged them to give themselves over to revelry and to make the present portion of the banquet joyful by celebrating all the more. 5.18. After the party had been going on for some time, the king summoned Hermon and with sharp threats demanded to know why the Jews had been allowed to remain alive through the present day. 5.19. But when he, with the corroboration of his friends, pointed out that while it was still night he had carried out completely the order given him 5.21. When the king had spoken, all those present readily and joyfully with one accord gave their approval, and each departed to his own home. 5.22. But they did not so much employ the duration of the night in sleep as in devising all sorts of insults for those they thought to be doomed. 5.35. Then the Jews, upon hearing what the king had said, praised the manifest Lord God, King of kings, since this also was his aid which they had received. 6.2. King of great power, Almighty God Most High, governing all creation with mercy 6.2. Even the king began to shudder bodily, and he forgot his sullen insolence. 6.28. Release the sons of the almighty and living God of heaven, who from the time of our ancestors until now has granted an unimpeded and notable stability to our government. 7.2. We ourselves and our children are faring well, the great God guiding our affairs according to our desire. 7.2. Then, after inscribing them as holy on a pillar and dedicating a place of prayer at the site of the festival, they departed unharmed, free, and overjoyed, since at the king's command they had been brought safely by land and sea and river each to his own place. 7.3. Certain of our friends, frequently urging us with malicious intent, persuaded us to gather together the Jews of the kingdom in a body and to punish them with barbarous penalties as traitors; 7.4. for they declared that our government would never be firmly established until this was accomplished, because of the ill-will which these people had toward all nations. 7.5. They also led them out with harsh treatment as slaves, or rather as traitors, and, girding themselves with a cruelty more savage than that of Scythian custom, they tried without any inquiry or examination to put them to death. 7.6. But we very severely threatened them for these acts, and in accordance with the clemency which we have toward all men we barely spared their lives. Since we have come to realize that the God of heaven surely defends the Jews, always taking their part as a father does for his children 7.7. and since we have taken into account the friendly and firm goodwill which they had toward us and our ancestors, we justly have acquitted them of every charge of whatever kind. 7.8. We also have ordered each and every one to return to his own home, with no one in any place doing them harm at all or reproaching them for the irrational things that have happened. 7.11. For they declared that those who for the belly's sake had transgressed the divine commandments would never be favorably disposed toward the king's government. 7.12. The king then, admitting and approving the truth of what they said, granted them a general license so that freely and without royal authority or supervision they might destroy those everywhere in his kingdom who had transgressed the law of God. 7.13. When they had applauded him in fitting manner, their priests and the whole multitude shouted the Hallelujah and joyfully departed. 7.14. And so on their way they punished and put to a public and shameful death any whom they met of their fellow-countrymen who had become defiled. 7.15. In that day they put to death more than three hundred men; and they kept the day as a joyful festival, since they had destroyed the profaners. |
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18. Philo of Alexandria, On The Embassy To Gaius, 135-149, 134 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE)
| 134. and, as they wished to curry favour with him by a novel kind of flattery, so as to allow, and for the future to give the rein to, every sort of ill treatment of us without ever being called to account, what did they proceed to do? All the synagogues that they were unable to destroy by burning and razing them to the ground, because a great number of Jews lived in a dense mass in the neighbourhood, they injured and defaced in another manner, simultaneously with a total overthrow of their laws and customs; for they set up in every one of them images of Gaius, and in the greatest, and most conspicuous, and most celebrated of them they erected a brazen statue of him borne on a four-horse chariot. |
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19. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 12.387, 13.62-13.71, 13.74-13.76 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 12.387. Now as to Onias, the son of the high priest, who, as we before informed you, was left a child when his father died, when he saw that the king had slain his uncle Menelaus, and given the high priesthood to Alcimus, who was not of the high priest stock, but was induced by Lysias to translate that dignity from his family to another house, he fled to Ptolemy, king of Egypt; 13.62. 1. But then the son of Onias the high priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor, lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings 13.63. out of a desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. 13.64. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra: 13.65. “Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation 13.66. where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill-will one against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude of their temples, and the difference of opinions about divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals; 13.67. I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews which dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and he subservient to thy advantages; 13.68. for the prophet Isaiah foretold that, ‘there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God;’” and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place. 13.69. 2. And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. Now any one may observe his piety, and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by that epistle which they wrote in answer to it; for they laid the blame and the transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply: 13.71. But since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago, we give thee leave to do it, if it may be done according to your law, and so that we may not appear to have at all offended God herein.” 13.74. 4. Now it came to pass that the Alexandrian Jews, and those Samaritans who paid their worship to the temple that was built in the days of Alexander at Mount Gerizzim, did now make a sedition one against another, and disputed about their temples before Ptolemy himself; the Jews saying that, according to the laws of Moses, the temple was to be built at Jerusalem; and the Samaritans saying that it was to be built at Gerizzim. 13.75. They desired therefore the king to sit with his friends, and hear the debates about these matters, and punish those with death who were baffled. Now Sabbeus and Theodosius managed the argument for the Samaritans, and Andronicus, the son of Messalamus, for the people of Jerusalem; 13.76. and they took an oath by God and the king to make their demonstrations according to the law; and they desired of Ptolemy, that whomsoever he should find that transgressed what they had sworn to, he would put him to death. Accordingly, the king took several of his friends into the council, and sat down, in order to hear what the pleaders said. |
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20. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 7.423-7.426 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 7.423. Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests, fled from Antiochus the king of Syria, when he made war with the Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as Ptolemy received him very kindly, on account of his hatred to Antiochus, he assured him, that if he would comply with his proposal, he would bring all the Jews to his assistance; 7.424. and when the king agreed to do it so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple somewhere in Egypt, and to worship God according to the customs of his own country; 7.425. for that the Jews would then be so much readier to fight against Antiochus who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come to him with greater goodwill; and that, by granting them liberty of conscience, very many of them would come over to him. 7.426. 3. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, and gave him a place one hundred and eighty furlongs distant from Memphis. That Nomos was called the Nomos of Heliopoli |
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21. Septuagint, 4 Maccabees, 5.25, 11.5
| 5.25. Therefore we do not eat defiling food; for since we believe that the law was established by God, we know that in the nature of things the Creator of the world in giving us the law has shown sympathy toward us. 11.5. Is it because we revere the Creator of all things and live according to his virtuous law? |
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